


Not perfect, but who's complaining?

by werepope (quiteparadise)



Series: 2014 Advent Calendar for a Filthy-Minded Athiest [16]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-16
Updated: 2014-12-16
Packaged: 2018-03-01 19:01:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2784140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiteparadise/pseuds/werepope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which everyone is miserable, especially their daughter.</p>
<p>A "What Forever Is" story.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Advent calendar challenge: Public transport.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not perfect, but who's complaining?

Liam and Zayn discussed it for a month before finally making the decision to adopt. The agency they consulted with all but put them through the ringer – an assessment of their flat to make sure it met health and safety laws, a slue of medical tests for the both of them, and hours of interviews every month. Those were the hardest. It felt like the agency was searching for a valid enough reason to deny them.

When a child was finally found for them and Zayn was given the all clear to actually go to Pakistan to meet their daughter, it felt like the happiest and most stressful moment of his life. Then it got blown out of the water, five thousand miles later, when he laid eyes on her.

He lived in a hotel room in Islamabad for ages while waiting for the paperwork to go through, having daily FaceTime conversations with Liam, who cried over every other emailed picture of her the first week, then less often as more and more weeks passed.

They named her Hanan.

Months later and she is still, daily, the best thing to have happened to them. She's the light of their lives. And she is driving them _crazy_.

Zayn bounces her as he walks the length of the train for what feels like the millionth time. Liam thinks it's the vibration that's bothering her, but Zayn doesn't buy it. She's so good in cars. She's out like a light the second she's strapped into her car seat.

Why the hell did they think that taking the train home for the holiday would be less stressful than driving?

"Please be quiet," he begs. "Please?"

His arm is going numb from being wedged up under her butt for the better part of an hour, but if he switches her over to the other side she'll start whining again. If he stops bouncing her she whines. If he so much as thinks of sitting down she'll start wailing. And if they can't keep her quiet, the other passengers are going to revolt and toss all three of them out of the train. While going over a bridge.

Maybe they'll spare Hanan. She's far too cute to throw off of a bridge even at her crankiest. It's the only reason she's survived this long.

At the back of a car, where the only witnesses are a couple of androgynous teenagers wearing oversized headphones, he risks swapping her weight from his left arm to his right. And yes, she does start whining, but at least he can feel his hand again. He tries shaking blood into it before he cups the back of her head – she's old enough now to push away from him, and he's terrified she's going to manage it one day, just tumble right out of his grip.

He sings quietly until she settles back into her baseline level of fussiness.

"I found you. Now the story has it's proper end. Oh hello, will you be mine? I haven't felt this alive in a long time. All the streets are warm today. I read the signs. I haven't been this in love in a long time. The sun is up, the sun will stay, oh, for the new day."

With his thumb stroking her tiny skull, mussing the dark fluff of her hair, and the familiar lull of his voice rumbling up through his chest where she rests her exhausted head, she finally _finally_ falls asleep.

When he looks up, smiling dopily and still humming the melody, the teenagers are craned around in their seats to stare at him, headphones pulled partially off. He keeps her tucked in safe and warm against him as he makes the long trek back to Liam, who is sleeping slumped down in his seat, mouth slightly open.

He lowers himself slowly, so slowly, into his own seat. He feels microscopically aware of the little puffs of her breath against his chest, the twitch and flex of her muscles as she reacts unconsciously to the shift in gravity. He stays frozen for a long moment, breath held, waiting, before he lets his head thump back against the seat.

He gets ten beautiful moments of rest, eyes closed and shoulders relaxing in increments, before someone across the aisle sneezes. Loudly.

Hanan jerks, her feet thumping a kick into his stomach as she reels back from him as well as she can. She wails. He knows how she feels, he really does.

Liam jerks awake no less gracefully. He sits up so fast he winces, grabbing at his neck even as he's shushing and reaching out for Hanan.

"C'mere," he says, hauling himself up to his feet. Zayn passes her off gratefully. He rests his forehead, for only the briefest of moments, against Liam's hip. Liam's hand skirts from the back of his head down to his nape, squeezing gently, and then he's off – bouncing Hanan gently in the fold of his arm and singing to her.

"Oh, since the day I saw you, I have been waiting for you. You know I will adore you 'til eternity. So won't you please be my little baby?"

Zayn moves over to the window seat so Liam won't have to climb across him when she calms down again. If she ever calms down again. He pulls Liam's hoodie up from where it's gotten crumpled on the floor and wads it up against the window to rest his head on.

Liam's voice is sweet and smooth and he doesn't bother being nearly as quiet as Zayn does. Hanan is fussing still, but Zayn at least isn't going to waste a perfectly good lullaby.

**Author's Note:**

> Zayn: "Manchester" by Kishi Bashi.
> 
> Liam: "Be my Baby" by the Ronettes.


End file.
